Nonviolent resistance has empowered the labor movement, closed down or cancelled dozens of nuclear plants, protected farm workers from abuse in California, motivated the recognition of Aids patients as worthy of access to life-saving treatment, protected free speech, put climate reform on the agenda, given reprieve to Dreamers, raised awareness about economic inequality, changed the […]

Over 40,000 people in 136 countries have signed this statement. Will you take a few seconds and join them? I understand that wars and militarism make us less safe rather than protect us, that they kill, injure and traumatize adults, children and infants, severely damage the natural environment, erode civil liberties, and drain our economies, […]

If change comes down to 8 laws, could you employ them to make real change? A science-based strategy for achieving enduring wellness-oriented change on a personal, societal, and global Level, these 8 laws of behavior enable any person or small group – even ordinary people without great wealth, official position, or physical power – to […]

The project’s 14 case studies each “involve extensive interviews with ten or more activists and militants in parties and NGOs who, though sympathetic to radical causes, have chosen a path of non-violence.”

…the corporate press has tried mightily to demonize them [the shooters] and tie the shooters to Black nationalist groups and Black Lives Matter but the shooters themselves have said they are lone wolves. BLM whatever folks may think of their strategies and tactics have declared themselves to be non- violent and have sought to solve the problem of police violence through organized peaceful protest.

By attracting impressive support from citizens, whose activism takes the form of protests, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other forms of nonviolent noncooperation, these efforts help separate regimes from their main sources of power and produce remarkable results,

Georgetown University theology professor Chester Gillis once said of Father Berrigan: “If you were to identify Catholic prophets in the 20th century, he’d be right there with Dorothy Day or Thomas Merton.”

“We have to have hope to resist”
As the Stop the Wall Coalition demonstrates, steadfastness (sumud) in Arabic and nonviolent discipline are essential ingredients of a successful movement. Members of the village communities have learned that they must continue to struggle, day by day, week by week, despite the violence directed at them. Freedom does not come easy. “You have to be willing to sacrifice for freedom, and above all else, believe in your cause and what you’re struggling for. If you believe, you will continue, if you continue, you will succeed.”

From the article: Without a potent movement on the ground, mainstream electoral politics is likely to remain stuck with remedies too weak either to rouse public imagination and participation, or to provide more than token relief for today’s extreme inequality.

Berry The drones were not as precise as I had hoped, for they sometimes miss the designated enemy and hit an innocent bystander—the sort of operator’s error that we must classify as normal. The enemies of peace resent these errors just as much as we peace-lovers would. And so the drones have very likely made more enemies than they have killed.

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Rise Up Times covers justice and peace issues with insightful articles and relevant information in these Rise Up Times. We bring you commentary and perspectives you won’t find in the mainstream corporate media, news of activism and resistance, and thoughtful essays about the state of the country, the state of the world along a bit of art and poetry.